Abstract
Empowering local governments in the planning process is a long-waited goal of the decentralized planning mechanism in India as well as it remains as one of the most-debated issues in the planning process under the federal structure of the governance. The regional social, economic and cultural diversities in the country have remained challenging to the policymakers in framing the policies for development as the planning initiatives without percolating up to the grass-root level have been actively promoting to widen the inequalities between the advanced and backward sectors and regions. At this backdrop, the Transformation of Aspirational District Programme (TADP), launched by the Government of India in 2018, looks path-breaking as it links the government’s development scheme with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to upthrust the backward districts through utilizing its potential resources for development through regular monitoring, recording of progress, outcome assessment and re-organizing the planning directives as per the requirement within a specific timeframe. This chapter reviews the TADP to analyse its prospect in transforming the districts through utilizing the ‘power’ of federal linkages and making districts resilient for balanced development.
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Notes
- 1.
Government of India in 1952 appointed the GMF Enquiry Committee to examine the working of the Grow-More-Food. The Committee recommended to bringing about an appreciable improvement in the standards of rural life to make it fuller and richer that would awaken the rural masses to take interest in not only increasing agricultural production but also improving their own conditions and creating a will to live better (For details, see the complete Report at https://indianculture.gov.in/report-grow-more-food-enquiry-committee).
- 2.
The first ARC was established by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India vide resolution no. 40/3/65-AR(P) on 5 January 1966. The Commission was initially chaired by Morarji Desai. Latter, K. Hanumanthaiah became its chairman as Mr. Desai became the Deputy Prime Minister of India.
- 3.
A new part ‘IX’, which consists 16 Articles and the Eleventh Schedule, has been added to the Constitution vide the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992. It envisages the Gram Sabha as the foundation of the Panchayat Raj System for performing the functions and powers as conferred by the State Legislatures. A three-tier Panchayat Raj System at the village, intermediate and district levels have also been enacted by this amendment. The Gram Sabha has been authorized to exercise such power and perform such functions at the village level as the Legislature of a state (may be law provide) by the Article 243A of the Indian Constitution.
- 4.
Part IXA has been added to the Constitution vide the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA), 1992. It was enacted in 1993 that constitutionally recognizes the municipal governments by making it a formal part of the three-tier governing system. This Act mandates the setting up of municipal governments in urban areas, however, the details of their constitution has been left to the state governments to follow their respective Municipal Acts.
- 5.
The Second ARC was set up with a resolution no. K-11022/9/2004-RC of the Government of India on 5 August 2005 with the Chairmanship of Veerappa Moily. Mr. Moily resigned from the Commission on 1 April 2009 and V. Ramachandran was appointed as the Chairman.
- 6.
See the Complete Report here: https://darpg.gov.in/sites/default/files/local_governance6.pdf.
- 7.
Details of the Government’s decisions on the recommendations and ‘Action taken’ thereon Administrative Reforms Commission’s 6th Report titled ‘Local Governance—An Inspiring Journey into the Future’. Available here: https://darpg.gov.in/sites/default/files/decision6.pdf.
- 8.
Senior IAS bureaucrats have been roped in as ‘Prabhari officers’ (i.e. Officer-in-Charge). They are additional and joint secretary ranked officers who will coordinate the efforts of the Centre and the states by addressing specific developmental needs of the districts.
- 9.
See the NITI Aayog website http://niti.gov.in/about-aspirational-districts-programme.
- 10.
See the report of the Down To Earth dated 09 December 2019, available here: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/governance/india-home-to-28-of-world-s-poor-human-development-index-2019-68336.
- 11.
See Nity Aayog’s primer on ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts—A New India 2022’, available in the URL: http://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2018-12/Transformation-of-AspirationalDistricts-Primer-ANew-India2022.pdf.
- 12.
Panchayet is the village-level administrative unit elected by the democratic rights of the people.
- 13.
AADHAAR is a unique number which is having 12 digits, implemented by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), authorized by the Government of India. A card containing this number is issued to all residents of India. Aadhaar is linked to the basic biometric and demographic information like photograph, fingerprints and iris of each individual. It aims to eliminate the large number of duplicate and fake identities in government and private database.
- 14.
See the report of the Economic Times dated 29 July 2020, available here: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/india-can-be-among-top-5-agri-goods-exporters-with-effective-policies-report/articleshow/77244405.cms?from=mdr.
- 15.
An ‘Agro-climatic zone’ is a land unit in terms of major climates, suitable for a certain range of crops and cultivars.
- 16.
An agro-ecological region (AER) is the land unit on earth’s surface, carved out of agroclimatic region by superimposing climate on landforms and soils, which are the modifiers of climate and length of growing period.
- 17.
See e-publication on ‘ICAR-NBSSLUP Technology: Delineating Agro-Ecological Regions’ in the NBSS & LUP Website, available here: https://www.nbsslup.in/assets/uploads/clinks/Delineating%20Agro-Ecological%20Regions.pdf.
- 18.
See the Statista data and also the report by Aaron O’Neill dated 31 March 2021 here: https://www.statista.com/statistics/271312/urbanization-in-india/.
- 19.
See the study on ‘Asia’s rural–urban disparity in the context of growing inequality’, by Katsushi S. Imai of the University of Manchester and Bilal Malaeb of University of Oxford which was funded by y the Asia and the Pacific Division (APR) of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). URL: https://www.ifad.org/documents/36783902/40280999/.
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Sarkar, T., Mishra, M., Singh, R.B. (2022). Managing the Regional Inequalities in India with Particular Reference to the Transformation of Aspirational Districts Programme. In: Mishra, M., Singh, R.B., Lucena, A.J.d., Chatterjee, S. (eds) Regional Development Planning and Practice. Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5681-1_8
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